Maharashtra: Railways installs escalator at Diva to cut down on incidents of trespassing

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As part of its efforts to bring down incidents of trespassing, the Central Railway has installed a new escalator at Diva East in Maharashtra's Thane district, an official said on Monday.

The setting up of a new escalator has allowed the Railways to close people's access to the level crossing, which has been a site for accidents that lead to deaths and cause delays in suburban and long-distance trains, the official said.

The escalator for Diva West is also ready and will be opened shortly after testing, while another escalator will be set up on platform number 1 and 2 for the convenience of commuters, he said.

The Railways has appealed to the public to use the escalators, as trespassing is dangerous and is punishable under the Railway Act 1989, the official said.

Meanwhile, on Saturday-Sunday night, two crucial bridges on Central Railway Mumbai made strides ahead. While phase one of the Nahur road widening bridge was completed with the new lanes set to soon open for traffic, the sixth foot-over bridge at Thane station also completed two spans of girder launches last night.

"Yes, we completed a few major works last night that included widening of Nahur bridge by launching girders and completing its phase one and also launching spans of a sixth foot-over bridge at Thane station," a CR spokesperson said.

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The Nahur Road over the bridge is one of the crucial feeder routes as it links the proposed Goregaon-Mulund Link Road and the existing arterial LBS Road in the west to Eastern Express Highway in the east over rail lines and also Navi Mumbai at Airoli junction across the creek. The stretch over the rail lines at present is a very narrow one and a real bottleneck with immense traffic jams and the authorities' converting footpaths on both sides of the road into a vehicular road by levelling it. This road bridge widened to eight lanes, and a new one proposed over rail lines at Bhandup go a long way in improving east-west connectivity in the eastern suburbs.

"A total of 72-metre long, 14 girders were to be launched with eight of the newer lanes in phase one and six of the older bridge in phase two. With the work and railway block last night between 1:20 am to 4:20 am in three hours, the work under phase one was completed. Now once surfacing is complete, traffic will be diverted on the newer lanes and the middle portion of the bridge would be started under phase two," he added.

"It is a very important development for northeast Mumbai that the Nahur road over bridge project is finally gaining momentum. This will give a major relief from traffic congestion in Nahur-Mulund, bringing convenience and smoother commutes," local Member of Parliament Manoj Kotak, who has been following the work on the bridge minutely, told Mid-Day.

"At Thane station, there are five foot-over bridges and a new one is being built. On Saturday night, with the launch of yet another span between 11:35 am to 4:35 am, two of the total seven spans have completed launching. Five more such spans are now required to complete the bridge," a CR spokesperson said.

The new bridge is coming up at the CSMT end of the station and will be the sixth one at the station.